


How Two Became One

by Gameguy1992



Category: Furry (Fandom), Numenera (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: Aliens, F/M, Foxes, Furry, Humans, Magic, Mystery, Science, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, castoff, changing_god, farflung future, fennec, nanos, numenera - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:20:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22980862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gameguy1992/pseuds/Gameguy1992
Summary: FinNic is a wandering traveler, who moves from place to place to learn more about the world. Now in a small village he comes acrossed just such an opportunity; helping an expedition into a recently uncovered ruin in the nearby desert. But the ninth world is full of mystery and dangers, especially for one as connected to the numenera as a nano. What will he find in the deapth of the ancient and long forgotten ruin? How will it change him and those he meets and travels with?
Comments: 17
Kudos: 7





	How Two Became One

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Folks  
> Dont worry, im not leaving the zootopia fandom.
> 
> this is a personal project ive been thinking about and planning for a bit.  
> mostly as a way to explain why my fursona looks the way he does and the world he exists in. 
> 
> for the record here is what my fursona looks like  
> https://imgur.com/a/WAxKncL
> 
> and here he is as of right now in the story.  
> https://imgur.com/a/USS0S35
> 
> This is not a main story so i wont be focusing all my attention on it.  
> but hopefully you guys like it.

All around him the village bustled. To his right, men and women both mammalian and reptilian called to passersby, trying to entice them with their wares. In one booth a lizard with bright red and green coloring called attention to the jewelry she had made out of copper and steel wire along with what looked to be her own scales. At another booth a wolf with grey and brown fur gestured to a rack of weapons behind him while calling out the dangers of the surrounding areas. Meanwhile another merchant, this one a colorful green and black avian squacked and called attention to the jars of various colored liquids for sale. He ignored them all, although allowed his eyes to quickly wander their wares as he passed them. He wasn't looking to buy anything at the moment, he barely had a shin to his name. As it was he'd barely had enough to make it this far. Thank Kek the caravan he'd traveled with had been short a guard. That had allowed him to avoid paying the usual fees that came with traveling. If only the group had been short a nano too, he may have actually made a little money during the five days it had taken them to get here. Then again maybe he should just take his blessings and be grateful that the caravan hadn't encountered any trouble during the trip; no bandits or wild animals had blocked their path. As a Result they'd actually arrived at the village a day earlier than expected, with the dark red sun setting in the sky as they'd passed through the glowing blue photon-wall that protected the village for the outside elements. It had been quite the relief to pass through it. Even as they traveled the endless plains of waving grasses and plants the harsh red sun had blazed down on them. Most of the mammals had been forced to cover themselves in thermal clothing, or else risk getting heatstroke. Even some of the reptiles had complained, their scales baking in the heat. He'd fared slightly better by comparison, his body's natural adaptations and mutations making him able to withstand the heat and better conserve water than the others.

Now inside the shielding of the city though those adaptations made him a bit of an oddity. His short sandy colored fur, which did great for reflecting the heat of the sun now made him stick out amongst those around him. His large ears which allowed him to hear even the faintest of predator footsteps even on the muffling sands now twitched and darted in every direction as if they had a mind of their own (which for all he knew they might) when it came time to eat he was sure he would get a few odd stares and sideways looks. In villages and towns like this one, that sat on the outskirts of an expansive desert water was more valuable than food. Yet unlike most others who lived here, he didn't need to actually drink water to get it. By some luck of the cosmic dice he'd been born a fennec fox, a rare species with the unique ability to absorb all the water he could possibly need from the food he ate. He'd stepped away from the caravan he'd traveled here with over an hour ago, most of them having been wandering merchants or pilgrims of the Aeon order on their way to a shrine of knowledge a few more miles into the desert beyond the cliffs the village sat on. Indeed he's watched the robed and hooded pilgrims travel onward, each of them no doubt hoping to use the shrine for their own particular pursuit of knowledge. For time when he'd traveled with them he'd considered following them to the shrine, it certainly wasn't something he had done before. Listening to the older pilgrims talk of it, of the millennium old machine intelligence that oversaw the shrine and of the effect it had on those who gained its blessing; had certainly piqued his interest. But in the end he'd decided against it.

To become a Aeon pilgrim or priest was to adhere to their philosophy without question; that was to say observation, study and reflection without intervention. As so he'd bid the pilgrims and priests farwell, watching as they had slowly moved through the village towards the other side and the great Okar desert that lay beyond. Now he turned his attention to the situation at hand, it was mid afternoon. In a few hours the sun would begin to set when that happened, the ancient technologies that powered the village shielding would deactivate and the village would be vulnerable to the natural elements, including storms or raging swirling billowing glass that could kick up in the desert and travel for miles. He needed to find a place to stay, preferably one that was cheap. He tugged his cloak a little tighter around him as he continued on. Around him the merchants had changed, now instead of essentials like food and liquids they sold oddities and other scavenged items; bits of numenera from the worlds of old. As he passed by them he did his best to ignore their calls, the ancient and strange devices whispering to him. Try as he might though he found his gaze wandering a bit; falling on a float black orb that had several smaller spheres orbiting around it like planets around a black hole, and a set set of rings on a gnarled and clawed severed hand that whispered faintly to him about the truth of colors as he passed by them. 

Closing his eyes he drew on his concentration, allowing his will to gather and collect before flowing through him as he'd been taught to do. A moment later the hushed and veiled whispers of the various numenera around him quieted, leaving him in peace. From around his neck he felt the faintest of vibrations, no doubt from the symbols representing psychic energies that was attached to his collar, a result of it reacting to the barriers he'd just put up around himself. Every nano learned to erect such barriers, they were necessary and essential to anyone who spent prolonged time near the numenera, and nanos more than most were in danger of falling under the ancient and mysterious devices' call. Forcing himself to tear his gaze away from their latest find, a small bird made up of golden and silver plates that flapped its wings and flew around; he took a deep breath. Shelter, a place to stay, that was his goal. Villages like these often had inns and hotels, but also hostels and group bunkhouses for traveling merchants or story tellers. If he found one, perhaps he could not only find a place to stay but also learn of any local happenings in or around the village. And so he moved, making his way through the crowded streets searching for a place to stay. 

The first inn he found was booked full, the second didn't allow 'his kind' (nanos) to stay there. The owner, a blunt and slightly rude badger with a red electronic eye informing him that no inn in the city would welcome him and his sorcery and that he was better off being shredded by the glass winds. He left that inn, resisting the urge to cause the badger's eye to malfunction. (Which would have been easy) He decided to try his luck elsewhere, finding a nearby bunkhouse for caravans and traders. Pushing the door open he blinked, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the interior of the building which was dinner than outside. It was definitely an older bunkhouse and as if to reinforce that the owner turned out to be a human, an aged and tired woman with silvery grey hair and sharp brown eyes as she looked at him. "You wan a place da stay?"

He nodded, looking the old human up and down with a bit of surprise. Humans were rare these days. He'd heard once there had been billions of them around the planet, but about 250 years ago or so they'd begun to die off for unknown reasons. Several factions had their own theories about why this was happening; but in the end none of those theories did much good as the human population became smaller and smaller with each passing year. He nodded in response to old human's question. "Yes, if you'll have me."

The human looked him up and down carefully. "Yer a nano ain't ya?" Before he could respond the human waved her hand dismissively. "don't answer. Don't matter. Ya can stay, so long as you don't go setting off any cyphers or artifacts in the common rooms and restrict any of yer wizardry to your room. Got it?" He nodded, grateful that not everyone in the city seemed to be as biased as the previous inn owner. The human smiled at him, several golden teeth glinting softly in the dim interior light. "It's nine shin a night. 12 if you want something fancy."

He shook his head. "Simple is fine by me ma'am. Just a place to get out of the elements and rest."

The elderly human nodded, her eyes flickering to the door and a small window to the side of it. "Definitely on a night like tonight. Storms kicking up and comin dis way. I can feel it in my bones." 

At the human's words he glanced back at the window. Outside the normally blue shields that protected the city were dulling now, becoming a shimmery purple color as the sun set and the ancient technologies lost power. Beyond the shields he could see the twin moons of Kalisto and Calus starting to emerge from the darkness while the shattered and broke remains of the once third moon Modo drifted and orgited between them. "How accurate are you bones at predicting storms?"

The old woman chuckled. "almost never wrong. Cept if I been drinking. Then they think they can dance."

He chuckled, turning back to the old woman. "Mayhaps they're numenera of some kind. Be you some kind of nano yourself?" 

He meant it as a joke, a casual way to progress the conversation and remark on what the old woman had said. What he did not expect was for the woman to grin, almost smirking at him. For a moment the elderly woman changed, an inner light seeming to flash from her eyes, making FinNic's own widen in surprise and recognition. "Come along. I'll show you to your room." 

Nodding he moved, following the woman as she led him down a set of stairs and into the common area of the bunkhouse. As they entered the open space he looked around, finding that he wasn't the only person staying there right now. On the far side of the room a wolf was leaned back against the wall, a small trail of smoke rising from a narrow device that was pressed against his lips. Aways away from him two younger wolf children played, gleefully jumping and trying to touch a device that was hovering and floating above their heads. Whenever one of them would jump for it the device would let out a soft tone and swerve to avoid being caught, occasionally lighting up if one of their attempts got close. Besides the wolves the only other person in the common area was a rat, which was busy looking through some holographic display that was covering its face. Following the elderly human FinNic came to a stop, watching as the human opened and door and gestured inside. "Room 7, all yours."

He leaned in to look at the room, his eyes scanning the simple bed that was in the corner, and a medium sized chest of drawers that stood against the wall. On the opposite wall was a small desk and chair, with the whole room illuminated by a kind of crystal that appeared to be growing out of the ceiling and was emitting a soft white light. "It's perfect, thank you." He moved into the room, heading straight to the bed where he unslung his pack and dropped it to the floor. As he moved to undo his cloak he noted the old woman was still standing in the doorway. When she realized he'd noticed her she spoke, her voice soft and slightly hushed 

"Goes without saying… don't go spreadin around what you are. Not many people trust nanos here. They're tolerated cause they're useful, but anything bad happens and you're likely to have a mob after you."

He sighed, his ears drifting down slightly. "So just like everywhere else. I'll be careful."

The woman nodded. "Good. If you need ta there's an establishment on the far side of the village, it caters to nanos if yer the kind that needs adjustments made to ya."

He nodded again. He knew of such places, mocking referred to as machine shops by non-nano people. Unlike him some nanos were more machine than flesh, with the most advanced of them sometimes being completely synthetic. Those kind of nanos required specialized tools and conditions to repair any damage done to them. Luckily he was not one of them, still having every inch of flesh he'd been born with; mine the small bit of ear that had been bitten off by a Zarg beast when he'd been nine. But the shops provided other services and were a useful place to learn more about any numenera one might come across in their travels as well as tinker and connect with others of similar minds. As the old woman shut the door to his room FinNic sighed, allowing himself to fall backwards so he was laying on the bed with his legs hanging over the side. He wasn't surprised by what she'd told him, it seemed like most places held some kind of fear or anger towards nanos. Not that such fears were completely unfounded, nanos were often times referred to as sorcerers and witches for a reason. The numenera could do amazing and sometimes impossible things. They could distort time, rewrite history, change reality and even make the impossible common place. Some of course were useful, like the panels of black glass that helped to power the shields that guarded the village from the elements during the day. Others were wild and unpredictable, like the strange machines under the mobile city of Cali Mor, that allowed the city to be in several possible locations at once without ever moving an inch. But then there were the unknown ones, the ones from the worlds long since past that travelers found in ancient ruins and scavenged in hopes of making a quick profit; the ones that might be useful and benign or could be destructive and dangerous. A common tale told to kids was the story of a numenera that turned all those who heard it's song into mindless husks that obeyed the ancient edict of a long dead race. Another of a device that petrified the air around it, causing mountains to bloom into existence as if they were flowers. And still others of devices that could spirit away anything from a single person to an entire town to some unknown dimension where they would be trapped forever. That was where the fear of nanos came from, for unlike most others all nanos had a unique connection to the numenera; a result of the microscopic machines that covered the earth and lay dormant until activated by someone with a connection to them. It was those machines that the nanos could use and tap into, giving them a much greater level of access to numenera and their abilities.

Slowly sitting up on the bed FinNic moved, his paws working to undo the traveling cloak from around his neck before letting it fall away. He was dressed in simple clothes, a dark green tunic that was wrinkled and slightly worn with age, a pair of common brown trousers. Standard attire for someone who traveled as often as he did. Turning he shifted, folding his cloak neatly before standing and setting it on the dresser, as he did so he felt it thrum slightly, a series of glyphs and sigils appearing along the brown fabric; a sign that it was happy to be at rest. Unlike the rest of his clothes his cloak was rather special, the thick brown material had been interwoven with a kind of silvery living fiber; one that made the fabric much more resistance to wear and tear and could even provide him with a small amount of protection from some attacks. It had been a gift from the wise woman of his tribe when he'd told her he wished to leave and explore the world. Moving back to the bed FinNic laid down, enjoying the feeling of being safe and and secure. He'd take a nap for now and rest. Then once the storm had cleared he'd see if there was anything going on around the village and perhaps earn a little money to continue on his journey. Laying on his side he curled up, allowing his eyes to drift closed and carry him off to sleep.


End file.
